Ember
by Lyrical Lies
Summary: Bella's need to be like Edward is overcoming her, as is her constant fear of waking up alone...
1. Fortunes

Disclaimer: If I owned _Twilight_, I would be writing books, not Fanfiction.

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I knew from the very moment my head hit the pillow that I would waste tonight's dreams running for my life.

After the whole deal with the tracker-Vampire-James incident (as I lovingly refer to it), Charlie had become (although it was barely noticeable) slightly wary of Edward- after all, to Charlie, Edward was the reason I'd left Forks in the first place. Out of courtesy for the chief's feelings, Edward had since found places other than my bedroom to spend his sleepless nights, leaving me alone, to fend for myself in the darkening depths of my dreams.

Tonight was different, though; even though he was never there, most nights I was comforted by an intangible feeling that Edward was close by (or at least keeping tabs on the brainwaves of any Vampires or rapists nearby), but tonight, he was nowhere.

I found myself in a forest, all alone, drenched and shivering from the cold rain falling around me. My hair was plastered to my face and neck, and the water droplets congregating along my eyelashes made it nearly impossible for me to focus my eyes. The brightness of the sky seemed to contrast in an almost surreal manner with the rest of the scene, as the ground around me remained dark and shadowy, allowing me to imagine for myself what obscure and dangerous secrets the forest may have been hiding.

A noise over my left shoulder caught my attention, jerking my neck painfully to the side and bringing me face-to-face with Edward who, despite the inclement weather, was just as perfect and golden (and not to mention dry) as always. What little light reached through the trees caught his hair, but not his eyes. His eyes were steel, black, to lumps of coal in a furnace of anger. I stood up warily, not sure of how to react.

"Get away from here."

His voice, too, was strangely frigid, not the typical, flowing tones I had grown used to.

"Edward…?"

"Just go! They're coming for me, and I can't risk your involvement…" I walked towards him as he spoke, noticing that he only moved further away. I reached my arm out to touch his face…

"Oh!" My hand fell through the air, having not met with the icy flesh of his face. I stared at my hand in surprise. "Oh…"

I looked back at Edward. His eyes were now a stony gray color, a shade I had never seen before. His voice seemed to crumble as his face, too, turned ashy and dry.

"Don't let them change you…" he seemed to melt, almost gracefully, away from me, turning to ashes all he touched. "Promise me, Bella…"

"Edward!" I glanced down at my hand, noticing that it, to, was turning gray. "Edward, what's wrong? Tell me!"

And he was gone, scattered along the forest floor.

I shuddered back to reality, my face stained with tears and my right arm heavy at my side. My bed was soaked with sweat. I brought my hand up to my face- still intact. I searched the room desperately for some sign of Edward, something to let me know he was okay… He was nowhere. I rolled, shivering, onto my side and stared hopefully out the window, but to no avail. I felt scared now, more scared than I had in months. I was so scared that Edward would leave me, and never come back. It took my until 5:30 AM to cry myself to sleep.

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The next morning, a lovely, light snowfall took place. Lovely, at least, until it began coating the streets, roofs, cars, etc.

When I finally got to school (it took me quite a while to drive there- my caution level had risen significantly since the near-deadly accident from which I was so thoughtfully snatched during the last substantial snowfall), Mike was already pounding together snowballs, no doubt anxious to take out a few unsuspecting students on his way to class.

"Morning, Bella!" He shouted cheerfully as I approached. "Where's Cullen?"

"_Edward _didn't drive me to school today," I replied, a bit annoyed at the tone he used in regard to my boyfriend, "and you've got to give him some respect. He's only saved my life, what, about 2834793 times now?" I joked. "I haven't seen you jump in front of any trains for me."

"Haven't had the chance," He mumbled, and went back to his compacting of snow. "Hey, Jess and I are going down to the beach tomorrow. You wanna come?"

Something in his voice sounded reluctant, and I figured Jessica would much appreciate a bit of 'alone time' with Mike, so I graciously devoted my afternoon to a nonexistent English paper, apologized, and headed on in.

I hadn't been in school one second before Edward had found me, kissed me, and offered to carry my books. I was a bit angry at him, though, for not rescuing me last night. I worked up the angriest face I could and glared dejectedly at him.

"Good morning, Bell… whoa! What's with you?" He brushed a bit of hair from my face. "Are you… angry at me…?"

I pulled away slightly, fighting to maintain my angry face. "Why yes, dear Edward, as a matter of fact, I am."

He stifled a laugh. "Well, um… is it okay that I be, um, enlightened as to the reason for your anger?"

"No." What would I tell him? I had a dream last night, and you disintegrated, and, I don't know, I think that might actually happen? Not a chance.

"Well, that was a thoroughly uncreative answer. You could have at least made something up." He slid his arm around my waist and drew me closer to him, but I refused to make any sort of eye contact. He wouldn't just leave me like that. After all the dangers he'd put himself through for me, he couldn't afford to leave. "Please tell me? I'm trying to read your mind, but all I can pick up is that rather large kid behind you. He's wishing the cafeteria would serve ham omelets and quiche…"

I couldn't help but grin. Being a mind-reading Vampire has to be interesting on some level.

"I… just… nevermind. You'll laugh at me." Bad move. He placed his hands on my shoulders and pressed me, gently, up against the lockers.

"Bella, Bella, Bella… how many times must we go over this?" He put on the most serious face he could some up with. "I promise beyond promise that I will not laugh at you."

I sighed. I was going to have to tell him sooner or later, anyways. "You can't get mad at me either, 'kay? And you can't start ranting about how I should have avoided you, or how terribly guilty you are, okay?"

"I promise."

I breathed in sharply. "I…I had a dream," I started carefully, "and you were in it. You kind of… I mean, someone was chasing you. You told me to go, to get away…" I avoided his face, "and then you turned to dust." I finally summoned the courage to look at him. His eyes were warmer now, his expression sort of intrigued.

"And so, what, you're afraid I'm going to turn into a pile of dust?" He laughed. I shuddered, recalling my dream, and he quieted down, hugging me against his chest.

"I was scared you were leaving me."

The look on his face went stolid and serious, like I'd touched on something he didn't want to think about. Usually he was fairly good at hiding his feelings- lest his eyes give them away- but now? I could tell he was uncomfortable, nervous…

"Edward?" I questioned worriedly. He snapped out of his stupor and kissed me lightly. I could a glimpse of his eyes- they were black.

"Of course I'm not leaving you. Where would I go? I've got an eternity to spend, and what better place to spend it than in Forks with my beautiful Bella?" he backed away slowly, promising to see me in Biology, promising he'd drive home from school with me…

The sun came out during lunch and, of course, Edward and his siblings left.

I was all alone in Biology.

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	2. Never Again

Disclaimer: Once again, I own NOTHING. Nada. Not even the pattern on the bedspread, probably.

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The rest of the day was miserable.

I took a couple of wrong turns on the way home (due to my wandering head and a genetic lack of concentration) and ended up on the complete wrong side of town, with absolutely no idea how to get home. After about thirty minutes of guessing, my directionally-challenged self made it safely home.

When I got upstairs, I discovered Edward sitting in my room, flipping nervously through the dictionary that I'd left lying on my floor.

"Hello."

He started noticeably at the sound of my voice, but regained his composure quickly. "Bella."

"What are you doing here?" I went and sat next to him, puzzled by the look on his face. He seemed apprehensive, scared, threatened… "I thought you weren't going to hang around in my bedroom anymore." I teased.

"I needed to talk to you. I couldn't get a hold of you on your cell phone, so I decided I'd just wait for you here." I'd left my cell on the kitchen table this morning.

"Oh, sorry about that. So what's up?" He put down the dictionary and turned, slowly, to face me, keeping his eyes on the bedspread, following the intricate patterns that decorated it.

"Bella I'm leaving."

The blood drained from my face. There were no words I could say, nothing I could do to explain to him how his words had made me feel, so I simply said one; "What?"

"I have to leave." He sighed, wringing his hands anxiously in between his knees. "I'm going up to Canada. Personal business." He looked into my eyes for the first time. "It will probably be nothing…"

"Nothing? You're leaving, Edward!" Tears welled in my eyes. "You're coming back, right?" He remained silent. "Edward?"

"I may not return."

"Edward!"

"This is dangerous business, Bella! I wasn't going to tell you, I didn't want you concerned… but you had that dream and I already felt guilty…" The tears were flowing freely down my face now, and I could tell what he was saying was hurting him just as much. "I'm not trying to hurt you, Bella."

I tried to compose myself best I could, wiping the tears from my face and brushing the hair from my eyes. "So," I began, sniffling and silently reminding myself he's just a guy, just a friend… "Wha… what are you going to do?"

He drew in a deep breath, trying hard not to absorb the wave of emotion that was coursing through the room. His eyes were a pale tawny color, soft but disturbed, and I could feel his stare burning through my eyes, sending hysteric messages to ever nerve in my body. "There's been a threat." He stop moving completely, staring straight ahead into nothing and gripping tightly the side of my bed. "They want us out of here."

"Who?" I pried, still holding back emotions. "Who wants you out?"

"It's another clan. In Canada. They know we're here, and they want this town." His face was drawn up in what seemed like agony. "They know we aren't preying on the people here- to them that's a waste of blood." He opened his mouth then closed it, like he was going to say something but couldn't bring the words past his lips.

"What?"

"It's nothing." He breathed, turning away and nodding his head, I guess hoping I'd dismiss it. "Nothing."

"I don't believe you." I moved closer to him. "Please, Edward, just tell me…"

"It's nothing!" He stood up, his face pale and his eyes burning black. "Just leave it be, Bella! We're all in danger!" He began pacing. "It's you they're after. They know you know. That's what they don't want. They don't want us to exist, not in reality, not in memory."

I tried to wrap my head around the reality of the situation. "So they want to kill us all?"

"In blunt terms, yes," Edward said plaintively, "and unless we destroy them first, that's exactly what they'll do."

There was nothing I could do to change his mind. I could sense that. But I knew, deep down, that there was something I could do to help him, one thing, anything… "Edward, bite me."

"Excuse me?" He turned sharply around, a look of slight amusement prying at the edges of his pain stained face.

"Turn me into a vampire." The tears where back. Please let him say yes, just let him give in, just this once…

"Absolutely not."

"Why?" I cried, throwing myself to the floor, "Why not? It's my life, not yours! What's it to you if I make that decision?" As the icy tears slid down my cheeks, a sense of hollow resentment began to creep through me, resentment for the fact that I was what I was, and not what I wasn't…

"You know why it concerns me, Bella?" He said. "It concerns me because I'll have to watch you be tormented by the sheer harshness of life for the rest of eternity."

"But…"

"I'm not doing that to you."

There was nothing left for me to argue, no other cards for me to play. His face held a look of determination, and I knew it was a loss. I was crying still, but I hardly noticed. Edward is leaving me. He could be killed. I could be alone.

"You know I love you, Bella."

I couldn't respond. Too much thinking. Instead I curled up in a ball on the floor, bleeding my emotions from my eyes into the floorboards to prevent Edward from seeing them.

"I just don't want to hurt you!" 

"Edward, I'd rather be killed next to you than live without you!" I practically screamed, shocked at the desperation I heard coming from my voice. You can't expect me to live my life not knowing where you are, how you are, _if, _in fact you are… Edward I can't live like this!"

"If you go with me there's a chance you won't live at all. Everything will be fine, Bella, we'll destroy them, they won't hurt you… I'll protect you. Don't worry." He sat down and hugged me close, wiping away my tears with his hands. He ran his fingers through my hair. "I love you so much."

It was so easy to love, yet so hard to forgive. "Edward…" I had my doubts about this whole thing. "What if you… you… don't come back?"

"That isn't going to happen," he said, stroking my face with the back of his fingers, "I'm sorry I scared you."

I pressed my face up against his chest; his heart beat strong in my ear and I was once again reminded of his mortality. No matter how difficult, how strong he was, he could still be destroyed. "Edward…"

"Bella, please." He stood up. "Please just let me go. It will make things better." He grasped my hand and pulled me to my feet, then held me to keep my knees from collapsing. "You are in grave danger, Bella. This is the only way to save you."

"Save me…" I echoed. How could he save me if I might never see him again?

"I'd better get going. The sooner we get there the better." He let go of me slowly, making sure I could hold myself up. "I'll miss you, Bella."

"No!" I reached out to grab him, thinking in vain that my human strength could somehow keep him here… "No…"

And he was gone.

There were no more tears. All I could do was stare into space, carefully analyzing the few feet of space where I had last seen him.

It could be the last time…

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	3. The Forest

Disclaimer: I still don't own _Twilight. _I do, however, have a kitten .

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I spent the hours between 4:45 AM and 7:00 Friday morning hoping and praying that Edward would be at school, but also making up excuses for his not being there if he wasn't. I knew my optimism was worthless; he had made up his mind the very second the threat had been made. I sighed a long, heartfelt sigh and drove to school without even thinking about breakfast.

My school day was completely wasted as I drifted in and out of my thoughts, imagining all sorts of terrible things… nothing, not even Jessica's persistent rambling could get my thoughts off of Edward's absence. I couldn't shake the memory of the dream in the forest- his stone colored eyes, desperate attempts to make me leave, his turning to dust at the touch of my hand…

I knew what I had to do.

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After my lunchtime epiphany my disposition brightened noticeably, but I understood the gravity of what I was about to do. Some would say I had my life to fear- I knew that was the least of my problems. If I could make it to Canada in one piece I'd be fine- from then on I could save myself.

But Edward. He'd not appreciate my efforts. _Nevermind, _I told myself, _he'll understand. He'll still love you. _Somehow, in the back of my mind, I couldn't shake the feeling that he wouldn't forgive me. Then again, I remembered, I've not forgiven him.

When I got home I rushed upstairs immediately, opened up my laptop and began searching for flights to Vancouver. The best I could find was one leaving at 6:00 tomorrow- Saturday. Perfect. I could tell Charlie I was going home, or even to Seattle, and just happen to drive to the airport and magically end up in Canada. Fail-proof plan.

I told Charlie of my departure over French toast and trout; he seemed to approve of my leaving temporarily. I was worried that he'd flip out- after all, the last time I left I was attacked by a vampire- but he stayed relatively calm. He made me promise to call him and let him know I was alright, but that's not a bad deal. The only catch was that he had no idea where I was actually going.

"I'm not sure I agree with the idea of you just _leaving,_ Bells." He said worriedly. "What if something happens? I need to be able to reach you."

"Ch- Dad, I'm probably going to Seattle! It's not a big deal! I'll call you tomorrow and let you know where I end up. And it's not like I'm going halfway across the country or anything." I reached for some more trout. Charlie had cooked tonight- I thought that maybe if I pretended to really enjoy his trout seasoning he'd be more reasonable. "Mmm, Dad, this trout sure is good…"

"Bells…" He shook his head restlessly, not sure of what to say. "Alright, I guess you can go…"

"Yes! Thank you!"

"But you _must,_ I repeat, _MUST _call me when you get there! No ifs, ands, or buts!" He gave me one of those fatherly stares, the if-you-don't-I'll-lock-you-in-your-room-until-you-rot ones.

"Of course!" I got up and hugged him right there at the dinner table. "You're amazing, Dad."

"I love you, Bella." No matter how excited I was the he was letting me go, I could still see the slight sense of concern hovering in his expression. "Be careful."

----

When I got off the plane in Vancouver, I could not contain the overwhelming sense of thrill. Edward couldn't stop me now. All I had to do was find him, let him know I was there and that everything was okay…

Then I remembered one very small and seemingly (until now) insignificant detail: I had absolutely no idea where in Canada he was.

I paused for a minute, concerned that my fail-proof plan had, in fact, failed, but I soon came up with another fail-proof plan to protect the original.

I'll search for The Forest.

I left the airport and went immediately to a travel agency. I found as many "Canada: Wilderness" brochures as I could, and settled down in a nice plastic chair to begin my search. It's not like there's too many forests in Canada, anyways.

I remembered some specific details from my dream. Like the color of the dust on the ground- it was a strange, orangish brown, a color I'd never seen before. It reminded me of Edward's eyes, but without the hint of kindness behind it. Such a specific color…

"Aha!" It didn't take me long. This particular forest was about thirty minutes outside the Vancouver border; it wouldn't be a long travel for me. Not that I didn't travel a lot anyways; I was always flying and driving around in between Forks and Arizona. Long distance travel was like changing underwear to me- it just happens.

I caught a bus to The Forest, one of those huge charter buses that will pretty much take you anywhere in the world if you pay them enough. Since my destination happened to be the furthest away, it would also consequently be the last stop, meaning it would probably be close to an hour and a half before I got there. Lovely.

"Ouch!" I was still standing when the bus jerked into movement, and my head slammed into the unforgiving metal around the seats. I put a hand to my forehead- I was bleeding. "Dammit," I muttered under my breath. I was stressed enough without a bleeding head. The drive was long and boring, but the scenery flashing by was gorgeous. Deep green forests, blue lakes, and snow-covered overhangs flew past as I watched from my seat. _It's hard to believe there's a battle going on in these woods, _I thought to myself, _and it's even harder to believe that I'm involved. _

As we approached my stop, I was suddenly overcome with a wave of guilt and betrayal. I was taking advantage of Edward's trust. I had lied. I was breaking.

Maybe he knew what he was doing. Actually, that was an extremely reasonable idea. I couldn't think of a single time when Edward had done something brash or without weighing out the possible consequences. And I certainly couldn't think of a time when he'd done something to hurt me.

My eyes burned in my skull and my face felt pale. What if he gets angry with me? What if… what if he gets hurt? Because of me?

The determination I'd had getting off the plane was obliterated when I stepped off of the bus at the edge of the forest.

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	4. Remains

Disclaimer: You have no idea how sick I am of disclaimers. I'm so incredibly sick of disclaimers that I'm not going to put one. Hah. So there. Except for I really am going to put one because I don't want to go to jail for stealing the gorgeous Edward Cullen. Oh well then…. I don't own them.

And thanks x 8932749387059948293847094870394875039487293857092 to those of you who reviewed. Feedback/input is what keeps me going.

I thrive on your comments so, if you want me to live, keep reviewing.

Actually kidding about that, but I really do appreciate feedback.

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_Do. Not. Worry._

_Do. Not. Worry._

_Do. Not… _Enough of that. Between Edward's disappearance, my bleeding head, and my overbearingly guilty conscience, worrying was the most natural frame of mind for me. I couldn't let it go. I stood at the edge of The Forest for a good ten minutes just contemplating my possible courses of action and their specific outcomes. Most of my ideas ended very badly, and many of them required my death.

This brought another question to mind. Would I die for Edward? It had always seemed like something I'd be willing to do but, when it came down to it, would I actually do it? Did I have the strength?

I decided that was something I didn't want to test. After all, the point of my coming out here was to find Edward and help him, not to make him feel guilty about my death. God knows he has enough things to worry about in regard to my well being- I'm not exactly the most coordinated human being on the planet. I walked into doors, fell down stairs, almost got crushed by flying vehicles… Edward had saved my life enough times to recognize my deficiency. He'd be highly disappointed to know that I had come all the way out here for him. He'd think I was an idiot.

I entered The Forest warily with no regard whatsoever to my plans, focusing intently at the strange color of the woodland floor. That color; so distinct, yet so incredibly undefined. There was nothing to compare it to, nothing exactly the same. Nothing was the same.

There was something- the remnants of my dream, maybe- that kept my focus clear as I walked through the woods. I jumped at every noise, every movement I detected among the flora. I remembered what Edward had said: _"They don't want us to exist, not in reality, not in memory."_ Those few haunting words kept me conscious, and I just couldn't mistake the strange yellow glow radiating from the leaves for sunlight. It was much too ominous for that.

Something stirred in the tree directly above my head; I glanced upward, but there was nothing to be seen. A presence felt in the back of my mind sent chills of panic up and down my spine as I remembered the warning, _It's you they're after. _Here I stood, possibly in the midst of my aggressors, completely apathetic towards the fact that my life was on the line. A line which I, in my mortal insufficiency, could not see.

They could find me at any minute. Nothing was defending me save my own, menial wit, and the only being with a _chance _to save me thought I was safe at home, in Forks. I breathed warily, not wanting to disturb the balance between the real and the obscure that this mysterious forest harbored. This was not the place for someone like me.

Suddenly I felt eyes burning holes in the back of my head. I whipped around, startled by the intensity of the feeling, and slammed into the cold, hard chest of a man about a foot taller than me.

I was too afraid to move. I had only been this close to danger once in my life, but I'd known then what I was getting myself into. This was too shocking, to close for comfort, and way to threatening towards my existence. I looked up, fearfully, at his faultless features. This had to be one of Them.

His eyes were a stunning violet color, circled in scarlet and spotted with tints of ginger. His pupils were huge, black and cunning, almost laughing at the look of distress I'm sure was creeping across my face. His face was angular and dark, his lips perfectly contoured to fit the flow of his face. His hair astounded me the most- it was radiant and black, almost shaded blue, and it seemed to shine without reserve in the nonexistent light of The Forest.

"Are you lost?" His voice flowed like honey, smooth and sweet, but something in his tone stung my senses.

"No." _Brevity is the soul of wit. _

"Oh. Well then, may I be informed as to the motivation for your isolated walk in this darkened wood?" His use of language puzzled me. It was way too wordy- not even conventional.

"I'm meeting a friend." Such a stupid reply. There was nothing I could do to backup this lie. But then again, I was terrified beyond words, and quick thinking was no longer existent.

"Let me get this straight," he laughed stiffly, "you're meeting your friend in an old, abandoned, Canadian wood? You don't sound like a local."

"Yes." Brevity was taking control of my speech, and making my lies seem even more irrational. "Yes."

"Bella, walk towards me."

It was as if he'd put me under some strange, hypnotic spell, the way I followed him. How he knew my name I do not know, but then it seemed insignificant. As I walked towards him I could almost feel him reeling me in, pulling me closer with some strange power I could not control. My brain was screaming to my legs to stop, but I was completely under his power. There was nothing I could do.

He put his hands around my waist when I got close enough. He was icily cold, colder than Edward ever was, and as his fingers brushed my skin I almost collapsed from the chills. He pulled me close and brought a hand to my face, stroking my cheek almost to delicately, like he was holding back…

Before I knew it his mouth was at my neck, pain coursing through my veins, a sensation of helplessness overcoming my ever-weakening body. His teeth pressed hard into my flesh and I collapsed, but he held me fast. I couldn't move, the pain was so intense. I felt his fingernails digging into the flesh of my stomach, the back of my neck… the blood from the wound in my head flowed freely down my face.

And then it was over. He dropped me to the ground, satisfied enough with my blood. I felt my eyes roll back into my head. Felt them only- I could not control them. My veins were throbbing throughout my body, the pain was excruciating…

"Thanks, Bella. I wish I could save you."

And the blackness took over.

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	5. Gravity

Disclaimer: No. I still don't own them.

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When I woke up, I was in a tree. Not under a tree, not against a tree, _in _a tree, about forty feet from the ground. At least I think I was awake; it actually felt more like I was floating around just below the surface of a strangely dense, green pond. I couldn't feel my limbs. They were there, I could tell that- but they were so very numb that they might as well have been stitched to my forehead. The pain was gone. Or so I thought, until I attempted to roll over…

"OUCH!" There it was again, coursing viciously through my arteries and bringing those ubiquitous tears to my eyes. I could sure feel my arms now. It was a bit too much feeling for my liking.

So anyways. I was in a tree, on a branch, dying of pain and possible blood loss, and slowly beginning to doubt my existence. There was nothing around me, no one to hear me. The pain wasn't my own; it couldn't be. No one should be able endure this type of pain, no mortals, nor vampires, nor…

"Bella!" Edward was in front of my face in second, gently caressing my face with his hands and massaging my frozen limbs back into order. I could hardly see him though he was right in front of me. My eyes were tired, foggy, strained from the pain and thoroughly defiant of my brains orders to stay awake. "Bella, stop looking through me."

It was strange how he understood. His hands were cold but oddly comforting, and his voice alert and desperate but strangely conscientious. I wanted so badly to reach out to touch him, to _speak _to him, but every ounce of my being was frozen, even the blood in my veins which should have been working to warm me up.

Suddenly I snapped to attention, pained and agonizingly sore, thrashing out and whimpering like some sort of a wild creature. I couldn't control it. Edward was on top of me at once, covering my mouth and making strange facial expressions that, on any other day, I would have completely understood and taken heed of, but today it was nothing to me. All I wanted was to stop feeling…

"Would you stop moving?!" He whispered harshly, more irritated than anything. "You're simply going to have to _stop. _I can't do _anything _if you kick me every time I get near you."

"Edwardi'mdead." I strung my words together so that I wouldn't have to breathe.

"You'll be even deader if you don't stop moving," he warned heatedly, gripping my wrists with one hand and using the other to keep us from falling of the branch. "Not to mention if we fall out of this tree."

"But I feel…"

"Just… shhh! Okay? I'm attempting to _help _you."

His fingers were needles in the side of my neck as he gently felt at the wound. Each time his skin came in contact with mine I shuddered, and each time I shuddered he dug his fingernails into my wrists, a gentle warning that we weren't completely safe. As he examined my neck his expression changed gradually from one of concern to one of derision, and from there to a look of pure unadulterated hatred. With absolutely no warning at all he released my wrists and covered my mouth and nose with his hand, allowing no air to be gasped into my eager lungs. He held me there for God knows how long; I waited desperately for that feeling, the lightheaded feeling that comes from a lack of oxygen, but it never came.

Without moving his hands Edward whispered, calmly, "Dammit."


End file.
